Android Q comes to beta. What does it mean for AdGuard?

Everybody who has any interest in Android OS is currently talking about Android Q beta that has been released just recently. The developers' blog post provides a lot of food for thought, but it doesn't answer the most important question: how does Android Q affect AdGuard? :) Read on to find out.

First of all, we feel obliged to say that a lot of things which we consider important were done right in this beta. We are particularly happy with all the privacy-related improvements that are coming to Android (for example, giving users more control over apps). However, some of the changes affect AdGuard in a negative way, and you should be aware of them before the update rolls out.

The main issue is that now it is harder to detect what app is connecting to AdGuard. Why is this so important? AdGuard is not just a simple DNS-level ad blocker. It is a fully-featured firewall, so it's crucial to be able to distinguish traffic between the apps. The same applies to HTTPS filtering — it won't be possible for the same reasons.

Good news is that in the latest AdGuard v3.0 beta this issue is partially fixed, depending on your preferred filtering mode:

in local VPN mode, everything will work as it should

in rooted local proxy mode, the firewall functionality and HTTPS filtering are still crippled, but they are going to be fixed by the time Android Q gets officially released

in no-root proxy mode, the same issues exist, and we will not be able to fix them unless something changes in the future versions of Android Q. We recommend to avoid this filtering mode.

A lot has changed since the first ad blocking browser extensions appeared on the market. Simply blocking ads is not enough anymore (not to say it is an easy task — advertisers are constantly learning new tricks to jam their ads past the filters). Today, big data rules the world. Tracking is omnipresent, the price of information has skyrocketed, and so has the value of privacy. People seek tools to protect it, and ad blockers need to adapt to the new demands in order to stay competitive. We understand this more than anyone, and the new AdGuard browser extension v3.0 reflects this.

You can say that with this huge update, AdGuard for Android is entering a new era. A jump like this can be only compared to the transition from the very first AdGuard for Android version to v2, and it's still more exciting this time.